Inverting mechanisms



R. AIBERLE I INVERTING MECHANISMS Dec. 2, 1958 2' Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledFeb. 5, 1954 FIG.

FIG. 2

' 1 INVENiOR. Q M

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 5. 1954 INVENTOR. 2, M0,

United States Patfiflt INVERTING MECHANISMS Roy Aberle, Gray, Maine,assignor' to Southworth Machine Company, Portland, Maine, a corporationof -Maine Application February 5, 1954, Serial No. 408,421

1 Claim. (Cl. 214-1) ing on one side to turn over by hand relativelysmall groups of sheets in the printed automatically piled stack of suchsheets in order to print on the opposite side. This was a tedious, timeconsuming, and ineflicient' operation, particularly in the case ofsheets of paper of large dimensions, say of the order of two feet wideby three feet long, in which each groupof say five or ten sheets of astackof perhaps several thousand sheets of paper had to be individuallyturned over by hand. I

The problem of preventing damage was especially serious. in specialtyprinting industries involving relatively expensive high qualitymulti-color printing operations. In the greeting cardindustry, forexample, the turning over of each individual small group of sheets afterprinting-so that each sheet could be printed on its opposite side wasalmost invariably necessary, and the labor involved represented asubstantial item of operating expense: out of line with the otherwiseautomatic feeding, printing, a n d stacking operation, Furthermore, eventhe turning over by hand of theonce printed sheets was itself a sourceof damage, and the damage so caused represented a further substantialoperating expense. 7

Accordingly, to deal with these problems which have longbeenconsidered anecessary evil inthe printing industry, I have provided a novelinverting mechanism for inverting bodily a stack of paper or the like bywhich I am enabled quickly and easily to invert a stack of severalthousand sheets of paper of large dimensions, so that it is no longernecessary individually to turn over the paper by hand.

It is a feature of my novel mechanism that it practically eliminates thedamage to the printed sheets of paper caused by turning them over.

For the purpose of describing still further features of a preferredembodiment of my novel inverting mechanism, reference is made to thefollowingtdetailed description thereof, together with the accompanyingdrawings, in which: I

Fig. l is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of the novelinverting mechanism of my invention in a raised position;

Fig. 2 is an en elevational view of the mechanism of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, partly broken away, of the mechanism ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevational view of the mechanismof Fig. l in a lowered position.

Referring to the drawings, the inverting mechanism of my inventionincludes a lower frame 12 having a pair of spaced, generally horizontalfixed track members 14. Mounted on said track members for rollingmovement therealong is provided a rolling frame 16 having a pair ofgenerally quadrantal rolling members 18 adapted to roll along said trackmembers. The rolling members 18 are preferably provided with peripheralstuds 20' adapted to engage sockets 22 in said track members 14 to eliminate slippage between the rolling members 18 and the track members 14. v

A supporting clamp structure for supporting a stack of paper or the liketo be inverted is mounted on the rolling frame'16 for rotation about anaxis generally perpendicular to the rolling axis of said frame 16, saidstructure including plate member 24 fixed on a shaft 26 rotatablymounted on rolling frame 16, said shaft being perpendicular to therolling axis of frame 16 and generally parallel to the radial linesdefining the rearward end of the quadrantal rolling frame members 18.Plate member 24 is provided with two pairs of opposed clamps at oppositesides thereof, said clamps being slideably mounted at the rear of saidplate member for movement toward and away from one another in adirection perpen dicular to the rolling axis of said rolling frame 16.Each of said clamps comprises a generally L-shaped member having itsclamping portion 28 extending generally per-' pendicular to the flatworking face of plate member 24 with its operating portion 30 at a rightangle thereto slideably mountedbehind said plate and having a rackportion 32 engaging a pinion 34 rotatably mounted on the rear of'saidplate, each pair of said clamps being operated by said pinion with theiropposed rack portions 32 engaging opposite sides thereof so thatrotation of said pinion will simultaneously move said clamping portions28 toward one another to clamp a load generally centrally ofplate member24, suitable slots 36 being provided in the working face of plate member24 for free movement of the clamping portion 28 of said clamps.

Each of the pinions 34 is power operated by a worm wheel 38 mounted onplate member 24 for rotation with pinions 34, each of said worm Wheels38 being operated by a worm 40 mounted on a common worm shaft 42rotatably supported on plate member 24 for driving both of said worms.The worm shaft 42 is driven by a motor 44 through a pulley 46 mounted onsaid motor shaft and driving a pulley 48 mounted on the worm shaft 42through a belt.50, said motor preferably including an overload couplingmechanism which will permit slippage when maximum clampingforce isapplied to maintain the clamps resiliently against the stack of paperclamped therebetween. A spring lock device 52 may be provided on rollingframe 16 to lock plate member 24 in a selected rotary position, saidspring lock device being operated by a handle 54 to selectively engageone of the sockets 56 at opposite diagonal corners of plate member 24.

To provide for movement of the plate member 24 between a horizontal anda vertical position by moving the axis of shaft 26 from its raisedvertical position as shown in Fig. 1 to its lowered horizontal positionas shown in Fig. 4, as well as the reverse, I have provided mounted onfixed tracks 14 and lower frame 12 a winch mechanism including a pair ofoperating cables 58 attached to the rearward end of rolling frame 16 atopposite sides thereof, said cables being wound up on drums 60 on acommon shaft 62 mounted in suitable bearings at the rear of lower frame12, said cables thus in effect extending between rolling frame members18 and fixed track members 14. The shaft 62 is driven through its pinion74 by a reversible motor 64 through a belt 66 and speed reductiongearing comprising a worm 68 and worm wheel 70, said worm wheel having apinion 72 which drives said pinion 74.

With such cable drive arrangement, it is essential that the center ofgravity of the rolling frame supporting clamp structure including a loadthereon be somewhat displaced Patented Dec.2, 1958f nllhl drums lun i ei 1 ;is a ae yi horizontal lowered position, plate member 2 i 1thenbeinge t sa w th. st t rd t .ifl. rs ,adiaq nt th t ivr nd i wt ask mm @r 1n. 1 wi tt q clamping p i c ..t e.,. amp enerall h r z n ilu i l am a en uslytopenedut ..t r u l t xtentbr pa s n v a itable of each pair of clarr psll AsecondpalletP is then placed on top of the steel; of paper Sand ;the clamps are again operated by -their-motorflfl lto close saidclamps and clamp thestack of paper S with its pallets P ,therebetweengenerally .centrallyf of platernernber 24.

The cable motor 64 is then operated ,to wind up cables 58 on their,drums ,60; and to roll framemcmbers 18 along track members 14 .untilplate member 24 has been raised to a substantially horizontal positionparallel to and above said ftrack members 14, ,as shown in Fig. 1, withits shaft 26 generally vertical. Spring lock 52 is then released from.soc ket. 56 andplatenmember 24- rotated through 180 .ito invert bodilysaidstack of paper. S and there again;docked by spring lock 52 in the.diagonally r- ."v ufl." P t ember? h n Pla ed. JPQ-IJ a qwerm clamps,

opposit e; sock et 56, Plate member; 24 may then be lowered by operatingmotor to unwind cables 58 from their drurns GO, as be fore. until saidframe members 18 have rol led along'trac k members 14 so thatplate;rnem-,-

her 24 is again in a substantially vertical'lowered vposition. Theclampsmay then be opened and the inverted staclc of paper S between pallets Premoved therefrom, the mechanism then being ready to receive anotherstack of paperto be turned over.

Thus v it will; be seen that-1 have .provided a relatively simple; andeifective inverting mechanism particularly use-V ful forinvertingsheetmaterial such as, for example,.paper,-

sheetmetal, plastic, and the like,r by, which mechanism a stackofseveral thousand sheets of material of large dimensions mayv.bequickly and easily inverted bodily without damage thereto, it-being,understood that my 7 novel mechanism may readily be used for invertingstill other types. of material. It will betapparent to those skilled inthis art that various modifications of my novel mechanism maybemadewithin thespirit of theinventio rand the scope of the appendedclaim.

I claim:

An inverting mechanism including generally horizontal fixed track means,a generally quadrantal rolling frame mounted for rolling movement alongsaid track means, supporting clamp means mounted on said frame forrotation about an axis generallyperpendicular to the rolling axis ofsaid frame said supporting clamp means including a plate lying in aplane generally perpendicular to the axis of trotation of saidsupporting clampvmeans, means I for positioning and looking said platein only eithenof two selected rotary positions 180 degrees from one,another, said positioning means including sockets positioned in oppositediagonal corners of said plate and a springurged pin mountedcn saidframe, and opposed clamps mounted on said plate, said clamps extendinggenerally perpendicularly to the face of said plate and being movabletoward and away from one another in a direction perpendicular to .therolling axis of said frame withsaid platein either of saidseleetedrotary positions, means for moving each said opposed clamptoward and away from V one another to clamp a stack of materialtherebetween including opposed racks on .each of said opposed clampsmounted for sliding movement on said plate means with I said clamps, apinion rotatably mounted on said plate between and engaging said opposedracks for simultaneously moving said racks, and power means mounted onsaid plate for driving said pinion, and means for rolling said "framealong said'track means to move said plate between V a lowered horizontalposition with one end thereof adjacent said .track meansand a raisedvertical position gen{ erally parallel to and above said track means,[said means i;

for rolling said frame including cable means'extending "between saidrolling frame and said fixed track means, and winch means for winding upand unwinding said cable.

ReferencesCiled in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 568,369Randolph Sept; 29,1896" 1,018,862 Ayres Feb.'27-, 1912" 1,525,45l- KurtzFeb. 10,1925 1,878,994 Abbe Septl'27, 1932 e r 2,417,553 Jensen Mar.18,1947" 2520;252 Mutchler Aug. 29-, 1950' I RE GN ENT 151,976 AustraliaJan. 24,1952

